Chapter 11: Acting
Inside the office on the top floor of the Asahi Heavy Industries building.
After Tanaka Asahi rushed back, he saw that the vault door was wide open, and the documents inside were scattered all over the floor.
He immediately picked up one of the document folders and pulled out all its contents.
He couldn't find the item he wanted.
"Are you looking for this?"
Suddenly, a voice filled with mockery echoed from behind.
Tanaka Asahi turned around instinctively, seeing an unfamiliar man standing not far from him, holding a single sheet of paper.
On that paper, row after row of names were written.
"It's you, you're the one who called me." Tanaka Asahi's face darkened instantly, glaring at Yumesaki with absolute hostility, "You actually have the nerve to come find me."
"Why wouldn't I?"
Yumesaki looked at his opponent with genuine amusement, "Now, can you tell me who this big shot you mentioned is?"
Tanaka Asahi didn't answer Yumesaki's question, his expression gradually growing even colder.
A dense, freezing aura began to emanate from his body.
The atmosphere inside the office chilled degree by degree, to the point that the sunlight streaming through the window seemed to dim because of it.
Yumesaki realized that this Tanaka Asahi was no ordinary person; he possessed supernatural power within him.
At the very least, this aura wasn't something a normal human should have.
"Since you've come, don't think you can leave."
He approached Yumesaki step by step, the icy aura around his body growing increasingly intense.
Immediately after, a bizarrely shaped creature emerged from his body.
Its form resembled a lizard, yet it possessed a pair of wings. It lacked eyes and a nose, but it had a mouth filled with densely packed, razor-sharp spikes.
This thing was far too peculiar, carrying a distinct hint of a Cthulhu-like entity.
"Kill him!"
Tanaka Asahi pointed toward Yumesaki, barking an order to the strange creature.
The monster flapped its wings and, like a flash of light, lunged directly in front of Yumesaki in an instant.
Its massive maw gaped open, attempting to bite off Yumesaki's head in a single crunch.
Yumesaki casually raised a single finger, tapping the air.
An invisible wave of absolute zero exploded violently, instantly freezing the charging monster into a solid ice sculpture.
Chilly-Chilly Fruit, please understand its power.
The force of this freezing cold was so immense that it actually caused snowflakes to drift down inside the office.
Seeing this sight, Tanaka Asahi's pupils dilated in pure shock, "This... how is this possible?"
"Nothing is impossible. The things you think are impossible only seem that way because your worldview is too narrow."
Yumesaki looked up at Tanaka Asahi, locking eyes with him just as they filled with overwhelming terror.
Mind manipulation magic, activated.
Tanaka Asahi fell under complete and utter control instantly.
Yumesaki walked over, switching from the Chilly-Chilly Fruit to the Memo-Memo Fruit. He pulled Tanaka Asahi's memories right out of his brain, examining them bit by bit.
Sure enough, not a single word of truth had come out of this guy's mouth.
Tanaka Asahi was indeed a member of the Star Religious Group.
However, he hadn't been dragged into it by the big shot he mentioned. On the phone earlier, this guy had described himself as if he had no other choice.
The reality was the exact opposite.
This guy had been a member of the Star Religious Group from the very beginning.
His father was, his mother was, and he was too. It was just that back then, he was merely an insignificant, low-level member under the umbrella of the Star Religious Group.
The Star Religious Group had at least eight hundred to a thousand members of that caliber.
But this guy had a knack for business.
So he founded Asahi Heavy Industries, and it developed quite well.
Yet at that time, Asahi Heavy Industries was just a small company. Even though its prospects were good, it would have taken a very long road to reach its current scale.
Fortunately, he crossed paths with the big shot he had referred to.
Someone holding an incredibly high position in the political world.
This big shot wasn't a member of the Star Religious Group and had no connection to them whatsoever.
But this big shot had made a mistake—a fatal mistake.
A blunder that would completely destroy his reputation and career.
What was even more fatal was that the evidence of this mistake fell right into Tanaka Asahi's hands.
To protect his position, that big shot was forced to grant various favors to Tanaka Asahi under blackmail, eventually causing Asahi Heavy Industries to expand more than tenfold in a short span of ten years.
Three years ago, the big shot finally discovered Tanaka Asahi's true identity... a member of the Star Religious Group.
Unfortunately, by then, this big shot was already far too entangled with Tanaka Asahi.
If exposed, it wouldn't just be the big shot himself who would fall.
Even the big shot's entire family would be completely purged.
In absolute despair, the big shot could only join the Star Religious Group by force.
So, the actual victim wasn't Tanaka Asahi.
It was that big shot.
Everything said on the phone earlier was fake; Tanaka Asahi had completely twisted the facts.
Yumesaki had to admit that some people truly were exceptional liars.
Because of his merit in dragging that big shot into the fold, Tanaka Asahi had been rewarded with a single page from a certain notebook by the higher-ups of the Star Religious Group.
At the same time, with the assistance of the Star Religious Group's leadership, he became a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
After years of training, he even possessed power on par with a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer, approaching Grade 1.
In all of Tokyo, he could be considered a fairly respectable lower-middle tier combatant.
The fear, anxiety, and panic displayed over the phone were nothing but acting—a calculated performance to lower Yumesaki's guard.
When Yumesaki suggested meeting up, this guy had been absolutely thrilled.
He wanted nothing more than for Yumesaki to appear before him immediately so he could kill Yumesaki and take back the list of names.
And the entity that had attacked Yumesaki just now was actually a Shikigami summoned by Tanaka Asahi using his own innate technique.
After viewing Tanaka Asahi's memories, Yumesaki had to acknowledge that this man was not only clever but genuinely capable.
Too bad for him, he ran into Yumesaki. Otherwise, he really might have had a chance to turn the tables.
At the same time, through Tanaka Asahi's memories, Yumesaki cleared up one specific matter.
Asuna wasn't killed by Tanaka Asahi directly.
But it was entirely linked to his involvement.
The higher-ups of the Star Religious Group had somehow acquired that Death Note, torn a few blank pages out of it, and distributed them to individuals who had brought great merit to the group.
Aside from Tanaka Asahi, there were at least four other people holding identical pages.
Counting Tanaka Asahi, there were five people in total.
These five individuals conspired with one another, using the notebook's curse to help eliminate each other's respective enemies.
Using the notebook to kill was already incredibly covert.
But this group of people took it a step further by using each other to wipe out their targets, making the whole operation vastly more hidden.
Cautious, truly far too cautious.
For instance, Asuna's death was carried out by the chairman of the Peace Society under Tanaka Asahi's instructions.
That's right, the chairman of the Peace Society was also a member of the Star Religious Group.
Furthermore, Raku Ichijo's death was executed by Tanaka Asahi under the instructions of the Peace Society's chairman.
Raku Ichijo was indeed the male protagonist of the Nisekoi world, but the guy held another identity.
He was the only son of the boss of the Shuei-gumi.
The Shuei-gumi and the Peace Society didn't actually have many major differences; both were Yakuza.
The two factions had clashed repeatedly over various matters, and the Peace Society had suffered considerable losses.
In terms of sheer volume, the Peace Society commanded organizations like the Washio-gumi and the Koso-kai, outnumbering and outscaling the Shuei-gumi by far.
But the Shuei-gumi were exceptionally fierce fighters; one of their men was worth several of the opposition.
Moreover, the boss of the Shuei-gumi had formed an alliance with an American organization called Bee Hive, planning a political marriage between his son Raku Ichijo and the daughter of the Bee Hive boss, Chitoge Kirisaki.
They intended to unite and crush the Peace Society.
The boss of the Peace Society couldn't take it anymore.
It was worth noting that local Yakuza typically fought with cleavers or katanas.
But that group of American gangsters didn't care about melee ethics; they never used blades, preferring a fast-paced American drive-by style.
Who could stand against that.
Foreign gangs truly had no manners.
Thus, the boss of the Peace Society swiftly decided to eliminate Raku Ichijo and Chitoge Kirisaki simultaneously, framing it to look like they had killed each other in a lovers' quarrel, killing two birds with one stone.
He would let the Shuei-gumi and Bee Hive tear each other apart to the death, while he swooped in at the end to claim the ultimate prize, absorbing the entire strength and territory of both syndicates.
However, after the Peace Society investigated the Bee Hive organization, they quietly dropped that plan.
The primary reason was that they simply didn't dare provoke them.
Chitoge Kirisaki's father, the boss of Bee Hive, Adelt Kirisaki Wogner, wasn't actually the main issue.
He was just a typical old-school American gangster.
But Chitoge Kirisaki's mother was absolutely untouchable.
Hana Kirisaki, widely known as Madame Hana, was the CEO of the world-renowned multinational conglomerate Flower Cooperation, headquartered in New York, with operations spanning the globe.
Her annual revenue exceeded tens of billions of dollars. Some even joked that the Nikkei Index was decided based on her mood that morning.
Of course, that was just a joke.
But it was undeniable that Hana Kirisaki was monstrously wealthy.
If her daughter were murdered, this woman would completely fly off the handle, and that would cause a massive catastrophe.
The chairman of the Peace Society didn't believe for a second that this woman lacked a supernatural backing.
A woman without a proper background couldn't possibly expand a business to such an immense scale.
If she truly lacked a background, she would have been devoured whole by the ruthless hyenas of Wall Street long ago.
Through the Star Religious Group, the chairman of the Peace Society discovered that Hana Kirisaki maintained a close relationship with the Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, Yuki Tsukumo, suspected to be intimate friends.
Furthermore, she had several powerful Onmyouji serving directly under her.
Even using the notebook wouldn't guarantee cursing such a woman to death; it would only invite her absolute wrath.
So, the chairman of the Peace Society weighed his options repeatedly and finally decided to have Tanaka Asahi write down Raku Ichijo's death alone.
As for Chitoge Kirisaki, he dropped it.
After all, Raku Ichijo was an only son. Once he died, the marriage alliance between the Shuei-gumi and Bee Hive would fall through.
Uniting to crush the Peace Society would become nothing more than a pipe dream.
And reality unfolded exactly that way.
After Raku Ichijo was cursed to death, the boss of the Shuei-gumi, Raku's father, Issei Ichijo, fell bedridden from grief and couldn't get back up.
The Shuei-gumi lost their boss and their heir simultaneously, instantly becoming leaderless.
The Peace Society struck while they were weak, and sure enough, succeeded in dismantling the Shuei-gumi entirely. Just as they were about to wipe them out completely...
Something unexpected happened.
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